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WNBA

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is Hour 10.

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The WNBA is in its 20th season and one of the best all-around players in the history of the league, Swin Cash, announced on Tuesday that this will be the final campaign of her 15-year career.

“This game I love saved my life after a cancer scare. It’s provided for me and my family. It’s given me championships in college and the pros,” she wrote in a piece for The Players Tribune. “And it’s asked me whether or not I had the tenacity and perseverance to compete with and against the greatest athletes in the world, and take home the prize of prizes: an Olympic gold medal. Twice.”

She’s one of the top players statistically — yet she’s got very little cardboard for fans to chase. Her story is not a unique one as WNBA cardboard has been largely limited to a small boxed set each year since 2009.

It’s February and that means that we’re set for the Super Bowl and some mass-marketing from SI.com over the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

And in reality the hype for both already has begun.

The last time we saw Ronda Rousey, she was suffering the first loss of her UFC career. Up next she’ll be in the annual issue for the second year in a row. More publicity won’t hurt her already-in-high-demand cardboard. She’s one of a long list of athletes to appear in the issue and part of an even longer list of models who appear on cards and have certified autographs and even memorabilia cards for collectors to chase.

For the traditional models, there actually were SI Swimsuit card sets released each year from 2003 to 2009 from Stellar Collectibles and then a later retrospective set. In those sets, we got autographs, memorabilia cards and even paint cards from photoshoots. Meanwhile, for many of the athletes who have appeared in the issue since, there are autograph appearances in sets like Topps’ Allen & Ginter (and many other sets) where collectors can also sometimes find the models. Kate Upton and Chrissy Teigen have been found there for example, and they sell very well.